Podcast Awards Relaunches with New Website

The 12th Annual Podcast Awards has relaunched with a new website for 2017. There have been some big changes since last year, including a complete rewriting of the rules. The GoFundMe for Podcast Awards has been updated with new information.

The new rules represent the most extensive changes in the history of the Podcast Awards. The changes were made based on input from hundreds of podcasters. The goal of Podcast Awards is to make minor tweaks as they go and hope that the awards process will satisfy the majority of podcasters who have supported them over the years.

It is now possible to see a list of past winners of Podcast Awards for every year from 2005 through 2016. This is something new that has been added to the website.

There is also a list of Legacy Shows that are honored for their excellence in podcasting and who have won a Podcast Award a minimum of five times. Legacy Shows that have never won a People’s Choice Award are still eligible for that distinction and are automatically entered into the People’s Choice category (and are not required to register).

The People’s Choice top Award has been renamed to honor the Podfather of Podcasting. It is now called The Adam Curry People’s Choice Award.

The official timeline is:

Podcaster Registration: May 1 – July 31

Listener Nomination Period: July 1 – July 31

Slate Announcement: August 12

Slate Voting: August 13 – September 15

Awards Ceremony: September 30

Nomination Rules and Eligibility

Any show podcasting on or before July 1, 2017, with a minimum of 10 published episodes is eligible to register and be nominated for the 2017 Podcast Awards.

All registered shows will automatically be eligible to be nominated in the People’s Choice Category. Any show wishing to be eligible to be nominated can register via the registration page until the nomination closing date and pay via PayPal the $10 registration fee.

Shows that do not register are not eligible to participate. The registration fee is not-refundable.

The biggest change to the Podcast Awards is that there is no longer any daily voting by the public at large.

The Podcast Award Committee will invite journalists, podcast thought leaders, legacy podcasters, sponsors and individuals of the committee’s choosing to vote, not to exceed 50 participants.

Through random selection, 50 of the 2017 registered podcasters will be asked to review and vote with a backup pool of registered podcasters to ensure 50 podcasters cast ballots.

Through random selection, 250 registered listeners who volunteered to vote during registration will be asked to review and vote with a backup pool of registered listeners to ensure 250 listeners cast ballots.

Podcasters can and should provide instructions on their shows and sites instructing their audiences on how to register and nominate their podcasts. Expressly forbidden are automated programs, web assist templates that interact with the Podcast Awards site, and web overlays. No nomination tool or macro is allowed.